This legend is associated with the destruction of Daksha's sacrifice and the origin of the Shakthi Peetas in India.
Sati, consort of Shiva, is the daughter of Daksha Prajaapathi, a descendant of Brahma. She had married Shiva against her father's wishes. The vain Daksha performs a great yagna (with the sole aim of insulting Shiva), to which he invites all the gods and goddesses except his son-in-law Shiva. Against Shiva's wishes, Sati attends this sacrifice only to be insulted by her father. Unable to bear the insult, Sati immolates herself.
Enraged, Shiva through Veerabhadra destroys Daksha's sacrifice, cuts off Daksha's head and replaces it with that of a goat, as he restores him to life. Still crazed with grief, he picks up the remains of Sati's body, and performs ‘Rudra Thandavam', the dance of destruction throughout the Universe. The other gods intervene to stop this dance, and the Disc of Vishnu (Vishnu Chakra) cuts through the corpse of Sati, whose various parts of the body fall at several spots in the Indian subcontinent and form the sites of what are known as Shakthi Peetas today.
Not surprisingly, this interesting story was made into a movie many times in India during the Silent Film period and later during the Talking Picture era. The first film Sati Parvathi (a.k.a. Daksha Yagnam ) was made in 1920 in the Silent Film format. Then came another titled Sati in 1922, made by the well-known production company of the day, Madan Theatres. In 1927, noted filmmaker G. V. Sahni made it again as a silent film, which was believed to have fared well at the box office. The first talking picture version was made in 1938 in Tamil (the movie now being discussed) by noted filmmaker Raja Chandrasekhar. Qualifying himself in Arts in Bombay, he worked as art director and designer for some time. He graduated to film direction at which he was quite successful. He made films such as Ashok Kumar , featuring the icon of Tamil Cinema, M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. In those days, he was believed to have been a favourite director of Bhagavathar. However, his later years were spent in obscurity, while his brother T. R. Raghunath became a successful filmmaker. Chithrapu Narayanamurthi made the Telugu version in 1941 and another Telugu version was made by Kadaru Nagabhushnam, husband of celebrated star-actress and producer Pasupuleti Kannamba, in 1962. In 1980, a Bengali version came, proving the popularity of the epic tale.
M. G. Ramachandran, the later day cult figure in Tamil Nadu political history, was an interesting feature of this film. He played a minor role and the initial advertisements released in support of the film did not mention his name at all! This was the fourth movie after his impressive debut in Ellis R Dungan's Sati Leelavathi (1936) in which he played a police inspector with laced turban, stick and all!
Well-known stage and screen star of his day Chellappa played Lord Shiva in his flamboyant style and sang quite a few songs. Krishnan-Mathuram who had come together as a couple around the time provided comic relief in their own characteristic style.
However, Daksha Yagnam did not fare well at the box office.
Remembered for being one of the early films of MGR.
